The weird thing is that working within an established story was actually kind of liberating. You know the beginning and middle and end, more or less, so there's less pressure to figure all that out.

We must do extraordinary things. We have to. It would be absurd not to.

Every time I get through the work on a book of nonfiction, I say I'll never do it again; it takes so much out of you.

But while mum and dad were incredibly caring, it was also a very chaotic household where everyone fought about everything. So I know what it's like to internalize all that chaos.

I think there's a future where the Web and print coexist and they each do things uniquely and complement each other, and we have what could be the ultimate and best-yet array of journalistic venues.

All I ever wanted was to know what to do.

It's so easy to print in the Midwest. You're saving months in shipping and customs, so we have started printing a number of books there.